In recent years there has been a dramatic increase in the incidence of attacks on facilities and buildings by terrorists, other aggressors such as extremists, and even disgruntled employees throughout the world. Many of these attacks are directed against government facilities or other high profile locations. One of the most effective means of facility destruction is through the use of a vehicle carrying explosives. To successfully guard against such attacks a standoff distance must be created around the facility. This can be accomplished by the use of a combination of active and passive barriers.
Passive barriers “never” allow vehicular access to certain areas, while active barriers are utilized to control or limit vehicular access to a particular area. Passive barriers often utilize fixed bollards and are used as security barriers to prevent vehicular access to the perimeter of a facility, outdoor public areas, campuses, or any other area where it may be desirable to prevent vehicular traffic.
Since the Sep. 11, 2000 attacks on the United States, a significant number of facilities are seeking passive barrier solutions. The owners of such facilities, as well as the architectural design community, are demanding a passive barrier solution that is easier to install and that provides greater flexibility in installation.
One concern with current fixed bollard barrier art is the need to dig a relatively deep foundation, typically four to six feet, for the installation of the barrier. This depth of foundation is required to make the barrier robust enough to meet the Department of State (DOS) crash testing requirements for a 15,000 pound vehicle. Non-crash rated barriers do not require this depth of foundation. Many city sidewalks and other desirable locations have various infrastructure (such as pipes and wiring) or other building structures located eighteen inches or more below the surface that would prevent the installation of “crash rated” bollards.
Another problem of concern comes from current fixed bollard barriers that have tried to address the foundation depth issue by building several bollards together into a very large bollard assembly. These large bollard assemblies require extensive site surveying and detailed design engineering to allow the pre-designed bollard assembly to perfectly match the contour of the surface. In the end this is a virtually impossible task and extremely expensive.
What is needed is a fixed vehicle barrier device that can be mounted in a shallow foundation, while still providing adequate protection from attack. Further, what is needed is a fixed vehicle barrier device that can be individually installed in groups without extensive site surveying and detailed design engineering, while still meeting the DOS crash rating requirements. It is to such a device that the present invention is primarily directed.